Seamus Heaney's Background and Poetry
Seamus Heaney had a Roman Catholic upbringing in a rural area of
Northern Ireland. How does his poetry reflect his background?
Heaney's poetry is able to reflect his background by his use of
language and the technique he expresses his experiences. I will cover
his background into three sections: his childhood, the community and
his reflections.
I will start by looking at his feelings and experiences in the poem
'Death of a Naturalist'. The poet remembers the time when he was a
young child. He saw the reality of what frogs were really like in the
outdoors compared to what was taught in school. In school, the frogs
are described like a typical teacher talking to young pupils. It is
very patronising and cosy hiding the fact that they are 'rank',
off-putting and sickening in certain ways. For e.g. "the dam
gross-bellied frogs were cocked" and " Poised like mud grenades, their
blunt heads farting". They are described as being like grenades due to
their size, shape, colour and the "scary" croaking noises that the
creature makes. It was a new experience for him for he had not heard
the noises before," to a coarse croaking that I had not heard before".
He did not feel in the right situation and it was like he had never
felt like that before. During his experience, he felt insecure,
anxious and self-doubting. He puts himself down for he blames himself
for the "obscene threats" the frogs were giving him.
His use of language is able to quickly adjust the mood from a pleasant
school setting to a horrid, smelly and repellent atmosphere. Heaney
understood the straightforward and simplistic teachings at school but
is bewildered and scared when he approaches the frogs. The po...
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... fascinated by her he knows he shouldn't be because
she has done wrong. Even though he feels so deeply of this girl he
realises how foolish he was by letting them carry on with the
punishment; "I who stood dumb".
In some cases Heaney is able to use oxymoron in order to describe how
society can be a catastrophe at times. He uses the descriptive words
"civilized outrage" to show this. He puts two opposite words together
to form a different meaning. Hence the word "civilize" and "outrage".
Heaney has experienced many tragedies in his life from "Mid Term
Break" to "Punishment". He clarifies this using his own expertise of
writing to create descriptive poems like these. What must be said
about him is how he is talented enough to deliver what is suppose to
be delivered, very effectively in order for a reader like me to have
such an impact on what is said.
growing more and more distant from him. “He had recently become a stranger to me
Presentation of Family Relationships in Carol Anne Duffy's Poem Before You Were Mine and in One Poem by Simon Armitage
His heart may have been in the right place, but he did not have the
abandoned; this made him feel as if he was the only person with out no
had a choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was
Billy Collins is one of the most credited poets of this century and last. He is a man of many talents, most recognized though by his provocative and riveting poetry. As John McEnroe was to the sport of tennis, Billy Collins has done the same for the world of poetry. Collin’s rejected the old ways of poetry, created his own form, broke all the rules, and still retains the love and respect of the poet community. Collins has received the title of Poet Laureate of the United States twice and also has received countless awards and acknowledgements. He has achieved this through a style of poetry that is not over-interpreted and hard to understand to most, but that of the complete opposite, his poetry is hospitable and playful.
Beowulf is a poem translated by Seamus Heaney that tells the story of the protagonist named Beowulf. Beowulf was warrior who had the strength of many men. He had grown up and molded himself to fulfill the role of a hero, throughout many occasions. Everytime he had finished a remarkable feat, it was subjected as evidence which was always there showcasing his accomplishments, godsend strength, and loyalty as a leader. Even in the most difficult situations, Beowulf had the courageousness to be side by side with God, letting him be victorious than anyone had ever
even to work on a farm, you need to have quite a lot of skill. The
“I wanted to grow up and plough, /To close one eye, stiffen my arm.” (“Follower” 17-18). Seamus Heaney is writing about a son; interested in following his father’s footsteps to become a farmer. The poem depicts the son’s past memories of his father. Fascinated in his father’s work, influenced by his mastery at farming, the son strives to become the same at a young age. “The Writer” on the other hand, portrays a father’s observation of his daughter, struggling to write a story as an author. Both pieces, share a common interaction between parent and child, but the parent-child relationships themselves are fundamentally different. These poems represent a reflection of how the parents respectively tackle the task of raising their child.
Seamus Heaney’s “Digging” and Eavan Borland’s “In Search of a Nation” focus on issues involving identity. Boland’s essay reveals an individual uncertain in her personality, sexuality, and nationality while Heaney’s poem depicts a man who recognizes his family’s lineage of field laborers yet chooses the pen over the shovel. The benefit of reading the two works vis-a-vis reveals how Ireland has influenced their lives.
things do not seem the same to him. The was seems to have put a new spin
love doing the work that they do and in 'The song of the old mother'
Robert Creeley, a famous American poet, lived from 1926 to 2005. Creeley was normally associated as a Black Mountain poet because that is where he taught, and spent most of his career. Throughout his life, Creeley wrote many different pieces of poetry. Four great poems by Robert Creeley are, “For Love”, “Oh No”, “The Mirror”, and “The Rain”. The poem “For Love”,was written by Creeley for his wife. In this poem Creeley explains, the love someone has for another person, and how complicated it is making his life because the person doesn’t know how to explain their love. “Oh No” is a poem that is literally about a selfish person who ended up in hell, but this poem has a deeper meaning. Part
Many times poetry is reflective of the author’s past as well as their personal struggles. One struggle that poets write about is of identity and the creation, as well as loss, of individual identities. Using a passage from the essay Lava Cameo by Eavan Boland, I will show how two poets use their craft to describe their struggle with identity. Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney both write poems which express an internal struggle with roles of identity and how they recreate their roles to fit their needs. Through retrospection and reflection, both poets come to realize that the roles they led as well as those they reinvented have created their own personal identities. Boland, in her essay Lava Cameo, touches on several emotions (loss, despair, etc) and episodes in her life which capture the essence of her identity. It is this notion of individual identity that is a central theme throughout Boland’s essay and some of her poems. Boland, through retrospection and hindsight, has been able to recognize the roles that society has dictated that she follow. These roles were not necessarily created for any rational reason (ex: female role as subordinate and even as marital property). One passage in particular captures the internal struggles Boland has endured. This passage runs from pages 27 to 29 in Boland’s Object Lessons. It begins by saying, "It may not be that women poets of another generation…" and ends with "…but because of poetry."
Heaney is not typically a political poet, with nonpartisan themes prominent in his poetry. However, he breaks this image in Act of Union, along with Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, branching into more political themes. The cause of this was largely due to the Troubles in Ireland from the early 1960s, which largely affected Heaney due to his role as a Northern Irish poet. He was also pressured by many journalists on his view, which is described in Whatever You Say, Say Nothing. Although Act of Union is unmistakably one of Heaney’s most political poems, it subtly delivers the message of Heaney’s outlook on the Troubles through the dramatic monologue of England, introducing an ambiguous persona.